1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for measuring a base station""s performance in a mobile communication system, and in particular, an apparatus capable of measuring performance, controlling the base station, improving performance measurement of the base station and automatically performing a plurality of measurements.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional measurement method uses a base station control personal computer (PC) 105 with software. This PC communicates with a base station controller (BSC) generally located several kilometers away to direct a base station 101 to perform a measurement. For additional measurements, the steps of controlling and checking the base station would be executed again and again.
The conventional measurement method using a base station control personal computer 105 with software as stated above, will repeat the steps of controlling the base station whenever it takes a new measurement of the base station. It is a time-consuming process.
Furthermore, because a user executes all these processes, the time required to perform measurements and the results of measurement change according to the technique and expertise of the user.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for measuring a base station""s performance by using an apparatus to directly control the base station.
An apparatus for measuring a base station""s performance in a mobile communication system comprises measurement apparatus having a port for exterior communication and a program for performing a measurement function, an interface module connected to both the port and a base station""s exterior communication port, the interface module being used for checking and controlling the status of a mobile communication base station via the measurement apparatus and a means for transmitting an output signal of the base station to the measurement apparatus.
The interface module preferably comprises: a processor module for analyzing signals; a ROM module for operating said processor module; a base station interface module for communicating with a base station; a measurement apparatus interface module for communicating with a measurement apparatus; and a protocol conversion module for connecting said base station interface module and said measurement apparatus interface module and performing a protocol conversion.
A method for measuring a base station""s performance in a mobile communication system using a measurement apparatus, comprises the steps of: selecting measurements to be made by said measurement apparatus in accordance with a request of a user; requesting and receiving from the user additional information necessary for taking said selected measurements; determining by said measurement apparatus whether the current status of said base station is suitable for performance measurement; ending said performance measurement if the current status of said base station is not suitable for performance measurement; saving the current status of said base station if the current status of said base station is suitable for performance measurement; selecting one of said measurements after said saving step and initializing said base station to enable the measurement apparatus to take the said selected measurement; confirming whether the initialization of said base station is successfully completed; returning to said initializing step, if the initialization of said base station is not successfully completed; initializing said measurement apparatus to take said selected measurement and then executing said measurement, once the initialization of said base station is successfully completed; reporting the results of said measurement and a reference for said selected measurement to the user and waiting for the user""s instruction; re-controlling and re-measuring said base station, if the user requests a re-measurement because the original measurement is not correlated with the reference; and saving the results of measurement and ending said performance measurement when the user does not request a re-measurement because the original measurement is correlated with the reference.
In the preferred mode, before saving the results of measurement and ending performance measurement, the said method further comprises the steps of: reiterating said initializing and measuring steps, if another measurement has been requested by the user; and resetting the said base station to its original status, and ending the whole performance measurement, if no other measurements have been requested by the user.
In the preferred mode, communication between the base station and the measurement apparatus is made by the interface module described above.